Mi-Carême alive and well in Grand Étang

Cape Breton Post

Published: Jul 16 at 8:30 p.m.

You never know where Hairy Mary will show up but if there’s anything to do with Mi-Carême, she’ll be there. She’s shown here in front of the Centre de la Mi-Carême in Grand Étang in Inverness County. - Contributed

Event continues in only a few Acadian communities

GRAND ÉTANG, N.S.

Imagine seeing six-foot bunnies hopping around your community in early March.

And they don’t have chocolate.

Or how about a cluster of clowns showing up at your door in the middle of the night, so well disguised you have no idea who they are.

And they want to come into your home to entertain you.

It may all sound slightly sinister but the truth is much more fun — it’s called Mi-Carême.

Mi-Carême literally means mid-Lent and it starts the Sunday before the fourth Thursday in Lent and ends on the following Saturday. This moveable feast can run anywhere from Feb. 26 until April 1 and it gives participants a welcome break from the austerity and penance of Lent. It also encourages people to don costumes and masks, turning themselves into “mi-carêmes” so others won’t know that they’re misbehaving.

They go into the homes of “watchers” who must then guess their identities. By the end of the visit, they’ll take off their masks so everyone knows who has visited.

If you live on the Cabot Trail, you’re close to one of the few communities remaining in the world that still celebrate this event and enjoy it so much, they have an entire building devoted to Mi-Carême.

Sabrina Lapointe is the manager of the Centre de la Mi-Carême in Grand-Étang, which is open to the public between June and October and of course, during Mi-Carême.

“It’s really entertaining and it brings the community together,” said Lapointe.

Ironically, the Quebec native never celebrated Mi-Carême before moving to Cape Breton in 2011. She remembers her first experience vividly.

“The first time ever I was watching then I knew someone from the community and she said come with me, come with me outside and then she was putting a costume on me. I went back into the house and it took 10 minutes for them to recognize me. And it was just because some of my hair was not tucked in properly and I have red hair and they recognized it.”

In fact, there are only a half-dozen communities in Canada that still celebrate it including Fatima in Quebec’s Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Îsle-aux-Grues in the region of Chaudière-Appalaches and Natashquan in the region of Côte-Nord and in Cape Breton in the Acadian communities of Saint-Joseph-du-Moine, Magré and Chéticamp.

The origins of Mi-Carême are no longer known although it has been celebrated in European communities since the Middle Ages. It came to North America with the first French speaking settlers. But although once popular, it has since faded away from most areas even though there is a concerted effort to keep the celebration alive in the Cheticamp area.

Lapointe says the centre tries to make Mi-Carême come alive for tourists who may drop in during the summer and maintain it during the actual time itself in the winter.

“I think it’s positive — it’s good cheer and it’s laughing — you need to be in that moment,” she said, adding you never know who or what you might see during those cold winter nights.

“One night last winter we had a bunch of bunny rabbits walking and jumping around but they were all adults. They were all friends and they all knew each other. It’s a good activity to do with friends. It’s fun.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Centre de la Mi-Carême

WHERE: 51 Old Cabot Trail Rd., Grand Étang
WHEN: Open from mid-June until October and during Mi-Carême, March 24-30.